Joel Sternfeld
California, (#4), 1977
I could tell you about suburban California in the late 1970s, but Joel Sternfeld has already done it, silently and totally.
Archive for the '’70s Decor/Design/Fashion' Category
Kids on Bikes Contemplating Farrah, 1977
Published October 24, 2013 '70s Decor/Design/Fashion , '70s Movies/TV , Photography , Suburban Living 4 CommentsThe Real Mustaches of New Jersey, 1980
Published October 24, 2013 '70s Decor/Design/Fashion , '80s Decor/Design/Fashion , Shopping Malls 3 Comments
The photographer is Joel Sternfeld. I found the shot at The High Line Blog.
If I had the facial hair, the muscles, the jeans, and the balls, I’d be one of these gentlemen for Halloween.
Groovy Wall Graphics, Circa 1976
Published October 17, 2013 '70s Decor/Design/Fashion , Found Photos , What Our Rooms Looked Like 4 Comments
I never thought paper clips could look this cool. I don’t know where he’s going with his tiny suitcase and his pack of smokes, but I bet he slept in a van and had a killer time.
KISS in the Bedroom, 1977
Published October 16, 2013 '70s Decor/Design/Fashion , '70s Music , What Our Rooms Looked Like 6 Comments
It was such a pain in the ass keeping sheets on the bed. The solution was one of our defining gestures.
Rock and Roll Over is a KISS album from 1976, and KISS Army is the name of the official KISS fan club started in 1975 (it survives online today). Here’s a patch from around the same time sporting the logo.
Can anyone tell (1) who’s in the article on the wall, and (2) who’s on the magazine on the bed?
UPDATE: Eagle-eyed Sam Staley pegged the magazine as Circus #165 (October, 1977), with Hall & Oates on the cover. Put on a shirt, Oates!
(Photo via Pacific Coast Trade/eBay)
1979 The Lord of the Rings Merchandise Catalog
Published September 30, 2013 '70s Decor/Design/Fashion , Catalogs , Lord of the Rings, The 13 Comments
You can thank The Retro Art Blog for scanning and posting the whole catalog. Click on the link to see the rest. Belt buckle ($7.50) or t-shirt ($6.00)? I’m going Gollum buckle. You guys do what you want.
The introductory letter, aside from assuring us that “through unity we will overcome the forces of the Dark Lord,” mentions The Lord of the Rings Part II, scheduled for release during the spring or summer of 1981.” If only that dream had come true.
One day we should have a discussion about the separate Bakshi and Rankin/Bass productions (podcast?), and how poorly it was all handled by corporate forces.
Photos of Apollo 16 on TV, 1972
Published September 23, 2013 '70s Decor/Design/Fashion , Space Race , Space Travel/Exploration 4 Comments
Not very long ago, we took pictures of our TV screens to preserve images we deemed historical or noteworthy. Film was the only way to do it, and our parents didn’t waste it, because it cost money to buy and develop. All of the photos above look to be of the same TV (Sharp is the model), and they mark the mission from liftoff to post-splashdown.
I wonder how many pictures are taken by Americans today compared to 1972. I saw some kids taking “selfies” yesterday—non-stop, for about 30 minutes. Half a million times as many? A million? More?
(Photos via eBay)
A Portrait of Young Geeks Playing D&D (1980/1981)
Published September 3, 2013 '70s Decor/Design/Fashion , D&D , D&D Portraits 3 Comments
From David Thiel, who gives us the entertaining back story:
It should be a surprise to no one that I was one of the founding members of the Hobart High School Dungeons & Dragons Club. Each Saturday morning, about twenty of us took over the basement of the Hobart Public Library for a half day of imaginary violence.
Here, courtesy the HHS yearbook, is the sole photo I have of me In flagrante dungeon…
Note that I was both wearing a Star Wars T-shirt and using an Empire Strikes Back school folder as a Dungeon Master’s screen. Yeah, I was stylin’.
What’s truly scary is that I’ve just realized that all these years later I can still immediately identify the D&D adventure being played by the two virgins in the background: the infamous “Queen of the Demonweb Pits.”
All this is my way of pointing out that I am indeed an old-schooler when it comes to dungeoneering […]
Read the rest of the post. No mention of the luxurious lip fuzz, David?
Kid’s like 10 years old and he’s still sucking on a bottle. The dad has got to be tripping.
I had a few of those airplanes. You just slid the wings into the fuselage and threw. I don’t remember them flying very well.
Third photo: God bless the stoners.
Those are empty egg cartons on the ceiling in the last shot.
(Photos via the Boston Archive, Glen.H, and Jeremy Jae)
Comic Book Store, 1978
Published August 19, 2013 '70s Decor/Design/Fashion , '70s Movies/TV , Big Kids Reading Comics , Comic Book Stores , Comic Books , Earl Norem , Kids Reading Comics , Magazines/Zines , Warren Publishing Leave a Comment
The ad, showing Vancouver’s The Comic Shop, is from The First Vancouver Catalogue. The pic on top shows rows and rows of fantasy paperbacks in the glorious heyday of fantasy paperbacks. Several editions of Conan appeared between 1966 (Lancer Books) and the early ’80s. They included Howard’s original stories and new works by contemporary authors, notably L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter.
The Marvel titles in the bigger photo are mostly obscured, but what a great look at all the magazines. Will Eisner’s Spirit, 1984, The Hulk! (formerly The Rampaging Hulk) #10 (Val Mayerik cover art), and The Savage Sword of Conan #33 (killer Earl Norem cover). On the second row, you’ll see a `Jaws vs Ape’ headline. That’s Famous Monsters of Filmland #146.
Not cover specialist Bob Larkin’s best work, and why the hell is the ape beating on Jaws, anyway? Here’s my best guess.
1976’s A*P*E (no shit, it stands for Attacking Primate MonstEr) is compellingly awful, and introduces a young Joanna Kerns (the mom in Growing Pains). RKO sued the production company for its blatant attempt to rip off Dino De Laurentiis’s 1976 King Kong remake, hence the hilarious disclaimer at the end of the trailer.
Also, listen for the very poorly edited “See giant ape defy jaw-shark!” I’m sure the narrator originally used ‘jaws’, but was forced to change it due to legal pressure from Universal Pictures. So, in true exploitation fashion, they replaced the ‘s’ by dubbing ‘shark’ over it.
***
I’m happy to report that The Comic Shop is still there. On the website’s history page, I found a bonus photo of co-founder and owner Ron Norton in 1975. You can spot several more comic magazines behind him, including Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction #1, and more fantasy and sci-fi paperbacks (Zelazny, Silverberg) in the foreground.
(First image via Sequential: Canadian Comics News and Culture)
(Video via TrashTrailers/YouTube)
2 Warps to Neptune 